Clifford's murder had been staged to shock and kill Myra. Act II, Scene 1 Two weeks have elapsed, Clifford is working on his manuscript but Sidney continues to suffer from writer's block. Porter Milgrim, Sidney's attorney, throws suspicions on Clifford by alerting Sidney that he has seen Clifford locking his manuscript into his desk drawer. Sidney surreptitiously reads Clifford's manuscript and discovers that Clifford is writing a play called Deathtrap based directly on the plot to cause Myra's heart attack. Sidney confronts Clifford, who threatens to move out and write the play regardless of whether Sidney wants him to or not. Sidney agrees to help Clifford write his play. Scene 2 Helga comes again to warn Sidney that Clifford is going to attack him. Sidney tells Clifford that he has completed work on the second act but needs to see if what he's written will be believable. By "trying out" these bits, Sidney believes that he is laying the groundwork to make his intended murder of Clifford (to stop Clifford from actually writing the play about Myra's murder) look like self-defense. Clifford, however, is several steps ahead of Sidney. He has put blanks in Sidney's gun and now forces Sidney to handcuff himself to a chair. Sidney's attempt to kill Clifford has given Clifford the plot details he needs to complete his play. The handcuffs prove to be fake, and Sidney escapes and shoots Clifford with a crossbow. Sidney starts to telephone the police, but Clifford rises up behind him, pulls the arrow from his own body, and stabs Sidney. Both die. Scene 3 Helga and Porter return to Sidney's den. She envisions what has actually occurred and tells Porter. Both realize simultaneously that the story would make an excellent thriller and that the title Deathtrap is ideal, but immediately argue and threaten each other over whether they will share in the rewards their "one set, five character" play, Deathtrap will undoubtedly reap. Production history Following a Boston tryout at the Wilbur Theatre, Deathtrap enjoyed a four-year run on Broadway, opening under the direction of Robert Moore, February 26, 1978, at the Music Box Theatre, moving to the Biltmore Theatre January 7, 1982, and closing on June 13 of that year. It received a rave review from New York Times theater critic Walter Kerr, who wrote that it contained "effrontery everywhere and fun straight through". However, the Times' other theater